Need advice swapping power bench for manual buckets

[Steve Carter]

I am considering purchasing a pair of manual bucket seats for my power bench seat '67 Riviera, since I can't seem to find a pair with a power driver's bucket. I need the adjustment since I'm short legged and the rest of my family is long legged. If I were to find a power seat or seat base later could the manual seat be adapted? I don't mind it being manual for now but ideally would like to find a power one.

As usual, these forums are invaluable and I appreciate having the resource, and hope I can assist someone else in the future.

Steve Carter

[Guest Riviera66]

1st, recognize that the buckets do not have the necessary mount bolts for the center side of each seat... you need to get the brackets chiseled out of the donor car and welded into your own or you need to custom make a system for bolting the center-most side of each seat to the floor.

2nd, there is nothing interchangeable between a manual base and a power seat base parts. The entire base of the manual seat would have to be removed and replaced with the power seat base from the donor seat. It will all bolt in... but it's not an upgrade, it's a swap.

Recognize that if the car was originally equipped with bench then a portion of the center of the car will appear uncarpeted once buckets are installed and even if you go the simple route and also get the '67 mini-console for the center, there'll still be a need to replace carpet to not have bare spots.

Finally, if it was a deluxe interior, the existing bench probably was a 6-way seat; buckets can only be 4 way so a wiring change / seat switch change are also necessary.

Darwin Falk

1966-70 ROA Technical Advisor